Pirates lie, they steal, they cheat. Pretty much what every woman wants.

"They are the true bad boys," said Lynn Combs. "And a sailor is always romantic."

Besides, who can resist a good sword fight, ship-to-ship battle, and mermaid in a big tank? Not the 30,000 or so expected Saturday and Sunday for the 8th Annual Northern California Pirate Festival at the Vallejo waterfront.

In the city's most popular two-day event, it's a veritable costume party filled with a bevy of buccaneers and buxom babes with enough family-friendly activities to lure the younger audience raised on Johnny Depp movies.

Count Combs among 'em, though she's working the event doing hair braiding a jewelry. Combs has done the festival from the start and sees no reason not to.

"The commute is eight blocks," she said. "And I want to support my home town."

What's not to like about an event that draws thousands of visitors to town?

"I think it is a positive event," Combs said. "It has good music, fun things to do, and hand crafts. I believe it is good publicity for our town and exposes people to the Vallejo ferry. I love it."

Mike Browne, executive director at the Vallejo Visitors and Convention Bureau, said he "doesn't have any statistics," but can visually observe an influx of more visitors via the ferry by the attire.

"The event has now become a tradition on Father's Day Weekend and Vallejo is so fortunate to be able to boast about this unique family event that invades our beautiful waterfront," Browne said. "The success of this annual event is critical to Vallejo's image as a community that continues to exude such diversity of more than just our population, but about the events we attract."

Much like most of the event visitors, Browne said his favorite part of the weekend "is the opportunity to dress and talk like a pirate for a couple of days."

Some downtown businesses — a canon shot from the festival — get into the spirit. At the Army-Navy surplus Victory Stores, owner Raymond Prather said pirate flags are going up outside of his business while small skull and cross bone flags are for sale.

According to one local hotel general manager, it seems the faux-pirates who attend Saturday don't seem to stay the entire weekend.

"We have not felt the impact of the Pirate Festival in prior years," said Nader El Kabbany of the Courtyard by Marriott across from Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.

Still, Kabbany said there's a plan to "create packages and sell consignment tickets" to the event next year.

The NorCal Pirate Festival runs 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Admission is $10 general and free for kids 11 and under. For more information, call 866-921-9277 or visit norcalpiratefestival.com.